Chen Li Shi: The Bitterness Of Being A "Swamp Seller"

Every time I pass by fashion Brand stores, beautifully displayed windows and ingenious designs can always attract people's attention. Even if there is no shopping plan, but those beautiful display, pleasant color matching can let people unconsciously enter the store. This is visual merchandising. Behind the scenes manipulator is Chen Li, the hero of this investigation.

To display is to set things.

Many people have this experience: they only wanted to buy a coat, but after seeing the perfect match of the model, they finally bought an overcoat, a pair of shoes, a handbag and a scarf. This is the role of visual merchandising. It contains a human aesthetic law and visual acceptance psychology, which is a complex and interesting learning.

However, the profession of Chen Li is very strange in China. Small and medium-sized brands or old fashion enterprises do not even have the concept of display.

Tang Lu, who majored in image character, graduated from university in 2012. Her first job was to enter the famous ZARA brand of Spain, the famous Spanish Inditex group, as a display assistant, serving the Massimo Dutti brand Beijing store. At that time, even the family members asked her, "what are you doing?"

"Chen Li's work, professional calling is visual marketing, through the color, shape, arrangement to increase the added value of products, attract customers." Tang Lu said.

Specifically, their work is not so fashionable and interesting. Once a display project is planned, it is necessary for all departments to cooperate effectively. Chen Li should understand the concept of the designer, and at the same time, pay attention to the progress of goods and store data, and express the designer's idea with the actual usable material. Industry experts told the Beijing Commercial Daily reporter that a professional Chen division needs to master the rules of color attributes and visual transmission, and is good at combining colors, fashion trends, clothing collocation, props and lighting to create the desired display effect. At the same time, after the display is completed, we must be good at summing up the sales data to determine whether the display has achieved the expected marketing target.

Carry a suitcase and travel at any time.

Tang Lu admitted that in China, clothing companies are as concise as possible. Chen Li Shi The number of people will make every division master the best. Take the Inditex group before her as an example, the world's third largest apparel group operates 7 brands in China, with more than 500 shops, but only about 50 people. Shops are divided into 2-3 divisions in each region. This means that an average teacher is responsible for more than 10 shops. The workload can be imagined.

Efficiency is what Chen Li values most. Especially in the fast fashion brand, with the new speed of the very fast goods, Chen Li Shi slowly put on a display in 2-3 days, and adjusted it once a day. "The company will keep a table for Chen Li Shi, but I haven't used it at all. I spend every day in the store." Tang Lu said that during the days when she was a display assistant, she was like chicken blood every day, from busy to late in the store.

Joanna works in the Beijing store of Hongkong's household buyer's store. She said that the cycle of changing her display window was 2-3 weeks, but the buyer shop was very demanding for details and quality, so she had been working overtime almost all the time: "it's normal to work overtime until four or five in the morning."

Tang Lu often runs around in a suitcase. The daily necessities in the box and two washing clothes are her family. Every time a notice was sent to which city to display, she went straight to the airport with her suitcase.

Chen's career has just started in China, far less respected and valued than foreign countries. The fashion industry's perception of it is also uneven, leading to the fact that Chen's position in the brand side or company is not high. Tang Lu revealed that the monthly salary of ordinary Chen Li is only 3000-4000 yuan. The reason why we are willing to take the trouble to go on business is that there will be a difference of 200 yuan a day, which can increase some income.

Shawn Armstrong is a senior exhibition course lecturer in the Sino hitzfashion Training Institute, a great British visual merchandiser, and has served in international brands such as Emporio Armani and Jean Paul Gaultier. He believes that if the brand does not support their visual merchandising, they will not be able to create the greatest value for their talents. Obviously, this is the embarrassing situation faced by Chen Li Shi.

Achievements merit nothing.

At home, even the first line. brand Chen Li Shi is also unable to display his talent as a display designer. "More is the role of execution. The display design of brand abroad has been restored to domestic stores. " Tang Lu said that the way of display that is full of creativity and sense of design is like that of Lac Crawford. At present, the domestic fashion atmosphere can not reach that high level, so the display is dazzling and bold again, so customers do not buy it. When many domestic teachers work in a store, they spend most of their time sorting out goods and changing models.

Reporters visited several times in the shopping center of Financial Street, the Beijing shop, the exquisite shop display and the number of very few customers in sharp contrast, the feeling of high and small.

It is precisely because of the late development of the concept of domestic visual merchandising, many clothing enterprises rely on salesman's eloquent sales speech as a magic weapon to achieve their performance. Many of the teachers said they often felt that their efforts were not so sure. Because even if a display design is successful and effectively promotes sales, the company will attribute the credit to the sales staff.

Shawn says that in western countries, successful brands know the truth: perfect visual merchandising is the best sales. "Because they create to the customer is a whole shopping space enjoyment and the happy experience, the turnover volume does not need the salesperson to use the endless talk to promote." He said.

Shawn told the Beijing Commercial Daily that the current window display in China focuses on changing clothes, while the western standard is changing the contents of the window once a month, changing clothes every other week. Regular customers hope that every time they visit the shop window, there are new changes. Every time they look at them, they are contrasting and pleasantly surprised. He believes that domestic clothing companies should give young and talented Chen division more opportunities to create independently, through the display design to express their ideas.

Masters also have rookie periods.

During the interview, Shawn, a visual merchandiser, gave a meaningful account of his "rookie era". "The first job is to open the props packaging supplied by the suppliers and then repackage them to the shops. Every season in Britain, business trips are made to help local stores install window props. Even at the bottom of the job, opening a box, unpacking, ironing clothes, making tea, handling wrinkles and so on, all bring my humor and energy.

Joanna talked about the experience of working with star designer Victoria Beckham. It is not her perplexity to study the display programme day and night, but she is the most proud of her career so far. Compared with young people's confusion, Chen Li Shi, a world-class first-rate shop owner and world-class display master, face the pressure and predicament of his career, showing the art of working hard and difficult to get along with. This wisdom is the most worth learning. There has never been a big red star and no master at one stroke. In Shawn's words, China has a lot of space to upgrade its design and creativity, so active emerging markets, "you will be the stars of the future".